MESSAGE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XXXII WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XXXII WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY
"Sustained by the Spirit, communicate hope"
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. In this second of the three years leading to the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, we turn our attention to the Holy Spirit and to his action in the Church, in our lives and in the world. The Spirit is the "guardian of hope in the human heart" (Dominum et Vivificantem, 67). For this reason, then, the theme for the 32nd World Communications Day is "Sustained by the Holy Spirit Communicate Hope."
The hope in which the Spiit sustains believers is above all eschatological. It is hope for salvation - hope of heaven, hope for perfect communion with God. Such hope is, as the Letter to the Hebrews puts it, "a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf" (Heb 6:19-20).
2. But the eschatological hope dwelling in Christian hearts is deeply related to the search for happiness and fulfilment in this life. Hope of heaven stirs genuine concern for the well being of men and women here and now. "If any one says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 Jn 4:20). Redemption, which is God's healing of the divine-human relationship, goes hand in hand with the healing of our relationships with one another; and the hope born of the redemption looks to this double healing.
